J. Christiaan Beker faces a major question: can the genuine power of Paul's truly responsible apocalyptic be recovered in our time -- so that we are actually addressed by the gospel of God's coming cosmic triumph -- without falling victim to readily available forms of sheer speculation, paranoid polarization, and romantic futurism? Beker responds to this question with uncommon honesty and insight as he shows that the passion for God's coming triumph can serve -- and in fact does serve -- as the generating source of our compassion for our needy world.
-- J. Louis Martyn, Edward Robinson Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology Union Theological Seminary, New York
The great Christian word hope has fallen on hard times: existential theologians have redefined it as openness to a vague future; Apocalyptic sensationalists have reduced it to a time table of escapism. In his study of Paul's Apocalyptic Gospel Beker has recaptured the meaning of hope. To a church fettered to her past or consumed by her present, no perspective is more helpful than Beker's conclusion that the Gospel embraces the future and that the future's clearest feature is the victory of God. Preaching will come to life and Bible study take on new vigor for all who walk through Paul's letters with Beker as a guide.
-- David Allan Hubbard, Former President, Fuller Theological Seminary